§ Mr. Owenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many citizens were injured by criminal assault or injured by endeavouring to apprehend wrongdoers in the years 1956 and 1957; and if he will give examples of the minimum and maximum compensation paid ex gratia by the State to a citizen during this period.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerI regret that the information asked for in the first part of the Question is not fully available. A special return for the three months February—April, 1956, showed that in that period in England and Wales 3,209 persons were the victims of indictable offences involving personal violence.
The Criminal Law Act, 1826, gives the superior courts a power to order the sheriff to pay compensation in certain circumstances to persons who have been active in the apprehension of offenders convicted of certain offences or to the family of a person killed in endeavouring to apprehend such offenders. I understand that during the period 1956–57 the minimum and maximum awards made by a court in exercise of these powers were £5 and £15, respectively. The order of the court does not usually indicate whether the recipient was injured or not. I know of no other payments from Exchequer funds of the kind to which the Question refers.